One of the most beloved franchises in Nintendos long history makes its glorious return in spectacular 3D! Pit of Kid Icarus fame is back in a new game designed specifically for the Nintendo 3DS system, by Masahiro Sakurai, creator of the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. franchises, and his development team at Project Sora. Kid Icarus: Uprising is a fast-paced and action-packed blend of aerial and ground-based shooting built on elegantly intuitive and streamlined play control. This follow-up to the original Kid Icarus released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987 has been at the top of gamers wish lists for years. Boasting gameplay that is easy to pick up but incredibly deep, the game is sure to satisfy novice gamers as well as fans who have been clamouring for a new installment in the franchise. The hero, Pit, teams up with Palutena, the goddess of light, who bestows on him the miracle of flight for limited stretches. With this gift, Pit soars through the skies, shooting down swarms of enemies, then alights and engages in frantic ground-based battles against Medusas underworld army. Find and collect numerous weapons and items that offer bonuses and ability boosts. Players can choose weapons before they send Pit into battle, giving them countless layers of strategies in each level. Players can choose between a basic Blade, basic Claws and a basic Orbitar weapon. Blades are well-balanced, Claws have limited reach but increase running speed and the Orbitars can shoot two shots that grow in power over distance.
Also in series
Reviews View More
Kid Icarus: Uprising sees you using a grand total of one button throughout its entire campaign, with its sole purpose being to shoot your enemies. Movement is controlled with the circle pad, while aiming is controlled one hundred percent with the stylus. There are times where the game will choose your path forward leaving you simply dodging projectiles, and times where you'll have to move about all by yourself. At first this sounds like a horrendous control setup, and it does indeed have many flaws. This game will murder your wrists, hands, and eyes. But the resulting gameplay makes them all worthy sacrifices. Aiming in video games had never before been and likely never again will be as perfectly accurate as the stylus controls in this game. It's amazing how the cursor is always pixel perfect exactly where you want it to be no matter how hectic your screen becomes. In no other game can you adjust your gaze so incredibly quickly, not even in games that use motion pointer controls.
Kid Icarus Uprising is one of the few 3DS games that takes full advantage of being on the 3DS. Every level in this game feels hugely vast and expansive, despite having fixed paths for the player at nearly all times and being on the tiniest worst screen ever. It wouldn't be possible on any other system. Aside from aesthetics, the 3D also significantly improves the gameplay. Being able to constantly tell exactly what distance your enemies are at from you at all times eliminates a ton of frustration that I could imagine myself otherwise having with this game. The 3DS effect does have varying effects on different people, but for me personally it immensely strains my eyes. Despite this I couldn't help but play this entire game with that 3D slider pushed all the way up due to how much it improves the experience.
Story
Having characters screaming in your ear for an entire game sounds like it would be a bad idea, but it is so extremely charming here. Every character is bursting with personality and their constant quips bring a special humorous energy into an already extremely solid arcade shooter. The actual plot does have some nice surprising plot twists, but is mostly carried by the characters constant dialogue. In other words, it's really good. Hades is really good. Go play this game.
Other notes
Kid Icarus: Uprising is probably the most gorgeous 3DS game ever made.
Make sure to play this on a 3DS XL or New 3DS/2DS XL model unless you want to actually permanently lose functionality in your hands.
The Dynamic difficulty system is really cool.
You can FEEL that this game was made by Masahiro Sakurai. It Oozes smash energy out of every corner.
The soundtrack is amazing
Conclusion
Go play this game right now. Sacrifice your wrists.